NYC Offers Monkeypox Vaccine Second Doses, Walk-Ins For First Shots

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers can start getting their second doses of monkeypox vaccine by appointment only, health officials said.

Roughly 74,000 people have received the monkeypox vaccine as of Friday, according to city data — and 10 weeks after their first dose they'll start receiving emails and texts letting them know they can book a second shot, officials said.

And it also could get easier to get a first dose.

The city will start welcoming walk-ins for first doses at vaccine sites, officials said. A further 8,000 appointments will open for booking Friday at 4 p.m., according to the city's health department.

“Now that we’ve gotten first doses to more than 70,000 New Yorkers, people can get their eagerly awaited second shots by appointment — and we’re making vaccination even more convenient by welcoming walk-ins for first doses," said Ashwin Vasan, the city's health commissioner, in a statement.

Monkeypox infections have steadily declined since reaching an average of 72 daily cases as August dawned, data shows.

The decline could show that health officials' troubled attempts to contain the monkeypox virus are finally working, and they're apparently not resting on their laurels.

Officials also announced this week that they expanded eligibility for the vaccine to sex workers of any sexual orientation or gender identity. They also opened eligibility to anyone who engages in survival sex, which is sex in exchange for shelter, food, money and other goods.

Previously, eligibility was limited to people who are 18 and older who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the last 14 days and identify as at least one of the following:

• A man (cisgender or transgender) who has sex with cis or transgender men or transgender women
• Transgender, gender non-conforming, or gender non-binary (regardless of the gender of your sex partners)

Most monkeypox cases have been among men who have sex with other men, but health officials have stressed anyone can contract monkeypox.